Tag: Learning
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Slips aren’t always fatal, but staying down is
We all fall down. But that doesn’t have to be the end of the song. Any fall that we CAN get up from is one that we SHOULD get up from. When we fall and stay down, we’re safe from the risk of falling down again, but we’re at a fatal risk of doing nothing.…
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Patterns, clouds and dragons
If we look for patterns, we’ll find them. We can’t help it. We see patterns in data, faces, events, clouds, stories and nature. We’re pattern-finding machines and this ability to find patterns is one of our learning and survival mechanisms. Our ability to find patterns and meaning in chaos is wonderful for speculation, for creative…
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Find a rhythm, not a rut
We crave habit, regularity and consistency. And for good reason. Habits allow us to automate good behaviours and leverage muscle memory. They help us achieve a state of unconscious competence with practices that we want to engage in regularly. But every behaviour turns dark when taken to the extreme and our habits are no exception. …
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Listening for the whispers
Not everything we want to know is shouted from the rooftops. Sometimes learning will require us to be quiet and listen to secrets softly spoken. We spend a lot of time in our own personal broadcast mode and sometimes forget to tune into the quiet frequencies of feedback which are all around us. What have…
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How the sausage is made
The UK COVID enquiry has been equal parts unbelievable and disappointing. It’s true that it’s terrifying to see how the sausage is actually made. In this case “the sausage” is the policy that would determine an entire country’s response to a pandemic which killed almost a quarter of a million people in the UK. It…
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Teaching consequences
One of the hardest lessons that parents have to teach is about consequences. We spend a lot of time naturally shielding our kids from consequences- even without thinking about it. Replacing dropped ice creams, lost football boots, broken [insert relevant toy here]s. And then suddenly, they get to an age where we think they should…
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Taking a punt? Times it by Pi
I’m fascinated by things that we’re serially terrible at and estimating is one of them. Judging how long something will take is a tricky proposition for us humans. We overestimate our competence, underestimate the complexity, rarely factor in the inevitable curve balls and often forget to consider any clean up. If we repeat something enough, we…
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Sometimes it just doesn’t work
This is the third piece I’ve written today. I don’t normally write more than one (I don’t have the patience) but the first two just didn’t work. One of them doesn’t know what it wants to be about yet, and the other isn’t suitable given what’s going on in the world. Neither would have added…
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Test First, Love Later
Don’t wait for an idea to become solid before you give it a crack. Test it early and quickly. Test it while it’s still elastic. Before you’re attached to it. Before you’ve given it a name. You don’t want to become attached to a shit idea, so test it before you fall in love with…